It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

30 July 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

29 July 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

I am not at all surprised that the attempted coup d'etat in Turkey occurred last week. I have been expecting it for some years now. Historically, the Turkish military has had the mission of safeguarding Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's vision of a secular democracy, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an Islamist who has accumulated ever more power over the past decade, is everything that Ataturk would not have wanted in a leader of the Turkish republic which he founded. So who is the real traitor? Perhaps "traitor" is too strong a word, but Erdogan is certainly subverting Ataturk's vision

The Turkish military executed successful coups in 1960, 1971, and 1980; however, there is little evidence that senior Turkish officers have ever had political ambitions. They have always restored constitutional government after a brief period, during which they sorted out the undesirable elements and banned them from future political participation. Put simply, the Turkish military's job is to push the "reset" button when it assesses that Ataturk's system is about to crash.

A lot of Britons who voted to leave the European Union a few weeks ago out of fear that the United Kingdom would not be able to block Turkish membership and thereby prevent a tidal wave of Turkish immigrants crossing the English Channel have all the more reason to regret the price they will pay for Brexit. The attempted coup and Erdogan's repressive crackdown have set back Turkey's long held dream of EU membership by several decades. The EU is far more than simply a free trade zone; it is a zone of liberal democratic peace, and Turkey has just shown itself to be unqualified to join.

Ataturk's secular republic was a radical break from the Ottoman sultanate, and it was the first political experiment of its kind in the Muslim world. Despite its history of military coups, Turkey is one of the most democratic and least corrupt nations in the Muslim world. The only predominately Muslim states which are rated higher by various sources are: Tunisia, which has certainly had some problems with political stability having undergone a revolution five years ago; Senegal, a small, impoverished West African state; and Indonesia, the most populous Muslim state and one which has ridden the wave of economic globalization very well, but it has had democratic government for only two decades, during which it has been plagued with two secessionist movements. The rest of the Muslim world is a mess: autocratic, repressive and corrupt. There is a strong correlation between how Muslim a state's population is and how bad its government is. So Ataturk's experiment is one of the brightest stars next to the crescent moon in the firmament of Islam. Tragically, it contains the contradiction that the military is obliged to take the helm occasionally to steer the ship of state away from Islam's apparent autocratic tendencies, and although these interventions are far from being the worst deeds to occur in the Muslim world, other democracies shake their heads in disappointment if not outright disgust. It does not measure up to European standards of democracy and political stability. Thus is what keeps Turkey out of the European Union.

Again, I am not at all surprised that the attempted coup occurred last week. I am only surprised that it failed. Given that the last coup was 36 years ago, it is apparent in retrospect that the Turkish military is out of practice. I fear that we are about to find out what happens when Ataturk's system crashes and the military is unable to push the "reset" button.

Worse still, a weakened Turkish military will embolden Kurdish separatists as well as Islamic State terrorists. This is a new "domino theory" for the 21st century Middle East: The Islamic State got control of much of Iraq thanks to the bungled US military occupation, then seized the opportunity to expand into Syria as the Assad regime unraveled; next stop Turkey and the doorstep of Europe.

Furthermore, in the shifting sands of Middle Eastern power plays, it is not inconceivable that the Kurds, who have enjoyed notable military successes against the Islamic State, might cut a deal for these two non-state actors to lay off each other and go after Turkey together. Although the enemy of my enemy may also be my enemy, it may be useful to make him my friend for now.

In turn, this would put the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, of which Turkey is a member, in a real bind. NATO has already been scrambling to find its footing in the face of Russia's increasingly menacing behavior, with the US thumping on the European members of the alliance to ramp up their defense spending. One wonders how prepared NATO would be to stand off the Russians while coming to Turkey's aid in fighting two teamed-up insurgent groups, for make no mistake: repression breeds insurgencies like rotten meat breeds maggots. NATO needs to get its head around the prospect that Turkey is about to tip from being part of the strategic solution to being part of the problem.

27 July 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

26 July 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

22 July 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time
keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically,
spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and
other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration...
and counting.

We thought he would be with us for many years. Siaki (Jack) was only a year old when he was murdered in the night and eaten by Tongans. One of the perpetrators was brought to justice and paid TOP 2,000 in restitution. It wasn't enough. How could it be?

21 July 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically, spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration... and counting.

17 July 2016

At least five times a day, Dylan answers the call to prayer of the mau-ezzin. He believes that devotion to the Mamma Cat is the one true religion; however, he would gladly cut off the arm of his cloak (the cat's pajamas) rather than disturb the sleeping Prophet, peace be unto him.

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically, spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration... and counting.

14 July 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically, spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration... and counting.

13 July 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically, spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration... and counting.

12 July 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically, spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration... and counting.

11 July 2016

As Theresa May emerged as the United Kingdom's new prime minister, I posted on Facebook:

"WOW! What are the odds that there might be a female German chancellor, a female UK prime minister, and a female US president simultaneously? Is that hitting the trifecta or what?"

One response was:

"Yes, if you believe the primary qualification for such offices is a uterus. I'd like to think the best person should win and gender does not matter."

I replied:

"As an idealistic proposition, I would also like to think that the best person should win and gender does not matter, and race does not matter, and religion does not matter, and sexual orientation does not matter, and age does not matter, et cetera. I do not think that is a realistic outlook in a heterogeneous world. We view the world differently because of the different people we are according to one measure or another. If this were not the case, there would be no value in diversity. Our ability to understand and to learn from different perspectives makes us as individuals richer intellectually and morally, and perhaps even as a nation stronger economically and militarily. Thus, all other things being equal, diversifying the 228-year history of the US presidency to include one uterus is a good in itself if it happens."

10 July 2016

It's the "ultimate" because this trip through music, space, and time keeps growing. More than 2,700 music tracks organized chronologically, spanning more than a century, plus voice clips from space missions and other historical events. More than 200 hours of musical exploration... and counting.

Selection

Title

Performer

ReleaseYear

1

Mariner No. 4

Penetrators

1999

2

Beach House on the Moon

Jimmy Buffett

1999

3

Spacewalk

S.P.O.C.K

1999

4

Beyond the Sky

Judy Collins

1999

5

STS-93 - Launch

Mission Audio

1999

6

Улетим на Сатурн
We Will Fly to Saturn

Крыс и Шмендра
Krys & Shmendra

1999

7

White Russians

Kurt Swinghammer

1999

8

Out There

S.P.O.C.K

1999

9

Alien Lover

Luscious Jackson

1999

10

See You Space Cowboy

Mai Yamane

1999

11

Interstellar Hardrive

Man or Astro-Man?

1999

12

Таких не берут в космонавты!
These They Do Not Take to the Cosmonauts!

Kfir's argument is that asteroid mining is legal because the 2015 US statute invokes the Outer Space Treaty, and in turn, "...it is indisputable under international law that any nation, which is a party to the Outer Space Treaty, has the right as a sovereign nation to interpret and implement its treaty rights on a national level."

This is a very weak argument. It implies that a sovereign nation has the right to interpret a treaty as it pleases, which is incorrect. Article 31 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties lays out the rules by which treaties are to be interpreted. Regardless of how clever one's argument may be, black is still black.

The principal point of the controversy over the legality of asteroid mining is the interpretation of Article II of the Outer Space Treaty, which Kfir does not even mention. The real question is whether Article II prohibits asteroid mining, and Kfir does not answer it.

05 July 2016

Rob Richie, executive director of FairVote, today called my attention to an article he published last month,
"The
Case for a One-Person, One-Vote National Primary To Nominate Our
Presidential Candidates in 2020." I just now wrote a response:

Following up the American Plan
process with a national primary is an
intriguing idea. For one thing, I certainly don't mind my idea being
mentioned in the same breath with Woodrow Wilson's... that's not bad
company! (It was Wilson who first proposed a national presidential
primary.) If sold as a package deal, your idea simultaneously solves two
rather opposite problems: the American Plan, while being a good process,
is just complicated enough to make most people's eyes glaze over, which
makes it a tough sell; the national primary, as a stand-alone solution,
would be horrible, yet it is so simple that lots of people love it.
It's a good marriage; each compensates for the other's weaknesses, and
they combine their strengths.

One aspect that should not be
glossed over, however, is that although the national presidential
primary would probably have a large turnout, which would benefit primary
races for other offices, turnout for the American Plan phase would
likely be depressed because it would not allocate delegates bound to the
presidential candidates (it is the national primary which would do
this). The American Plan phase might be widely perceived as a nothing
more than a series of "beauty contests," although in reality it would
serve an important role as the winnowing process for the national
primary. Moreover, I suspect that states would not be pleased at the
expensive prospect of holding two presidential primaries rather than one
(some states hold their Republican and Democratic primaries on separate
days, but it's rare). It was for this reason that California moved its
presidential primary back to its traditional date in early June,
consolidated with the state's other primary races. To avoid this
expense, I would anticipate what would occur is a reversal of the 20th
century trend of more primaries and fewer caucuses, with the American
Plan phase becoming increasingly a caucus-driven process. Growing up in
California, which adopted the primary system a century ago as one of its
Progressive Era reforms, I was averse to caucuses as weird, old
fashioned, and less democratic, so a few months ago I probably would
have disliked the prospect of the American Plan process comprising an
increasing number of caucuses, but I have recently reassessed my
position on caucuses. The argument in favor of caucuses is that the
participants tend to be more invested in time and more politically tuned
in than the average primary voter who just walks into the polling place
and punches a card based on some broadcast political ads. I'd have to
do the research, but I suspect that Donald Trump didn't do nearly as
well in caucus states as in primary states because he had no
organization, no "ground game;" the primary-driven process that has
evolved to this day allowed him to get by with just an "air game." Also,
I wonder whether some primary voters are victims of a false
consciousness, believing that they can be casually irresponsible in
voting for a candidate which, if they gave it some thought, they really
would be horrified to see in the White House, but it doesn't matter very
much since the next state on the primary schedule can vote differently,
so they can lodge a protest vote. We may have taken that Progressive
Era reform too far. So on that score also I like your proposal of the
American Plan process followed by a national primary, in that it might
"restore balance to the Force." The national primary would be the last
chance for voters to come to their senses. Do we really want to do this?
This is not an exercise. On my mark, rotate your key....

About Me

Thomas Gangale holds a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California and a master's degree in international relations from San Francisco State University. He was both an airman and an officer in the US Air Force, serving as an air traffic controller and an F-4 weapon systems officer. Also while on active duty, he served on the technical management teams of several satellite projects of the highest national priority involving national technical means of verification of strategic arms control agreements, as well as a Strategic Defense Initiative satellite program and two Space Shuttle payloads (STS-4 and STS-39). He has published numerous articles in aerospace and social science journals, has presented papers at several aerospace symposia, has written opinion editorials in major metropolitan newspapers, and has appeared as a guest on radio talk shows. He is a leading authority on timekeeping systems for other planets, and is the inventor of a class of orbits that will be essential to communication between Earth and crews in the vicinity of Mars. He is the author of the American Plan for reforming the presidential nomination process.